How to Do a Job You Hate

How to Do a Job You Hate

I had a slow day at work today, so I decided to catch up on my most hated task – FILING! I don’t know why I dislike filing so much, but I always have and that isn’t likely to change soon.

So the question is, how do you approach a task you really dislike doing?

- Put it off and hope it chokes and dies! (Appealing, but not likely)

- Pay someone else to do it for you (could you outsource it to India??)

- Foist it off on someone who doesn’t mind doing it? Or maybe you could trade a job someone else hates that you don’t mind. I do this one a lot at home. Everyone has different likes & dislikes. For example – I will take dishes over mopping every time.

- Maybe you could do a little every day so it doesn’t pile up to a big ugly job.

- Simplify the task so you can get it out of the way faster.

- Offer yourself a small reward for doing it (hey, this works on my kids!).

- Get someone to do it with you so you can at least have some company.

For filing, I take an approach that hits several of these points. First of all, I can put it off for a while. It’s not a critical task in my job, so I can do that without too much guilt. That’s better for me than having to face it every week or so.

I’m rarely able to foist it off on someone, but I have managed to a couple of times. When my kids come to the office with me, I can usually bribe them into doing it for me. Also, my co-worker doesn’t mind filing, so sometimes I can trade a job with her or at least get her to help me with it so I’ve got someone to talk to.

I’ve also simplified the job so it is much easier and quicker to do. I used to file things in a very detailed manner, and it would take me 3-4 hours to do. Then I realized that I only dig into them a few times a year, so it’s not really worth the time and effort to sort them so much. Now, I just sort them into a few general categories and dump them into larger folders. So if I need to find something it might take me an extra 5 minutes of digging, but the filing job takes me half the time. That’s a win-win in my book.

What hateful job do you end up putting off the most? How can you use these ideas to make it easier?

Adrian hangs out at her very aptly named blog AdriansCrazyLife.com. It’s a good name because she works full time, runs both Pampered Chef and Stampin’ Up! businesses, attends every blogging conference she can manage, and is raising a husband, three sons, four grandkids, a pair of crazy cats, a St. Bernard, and a rotating assortment of goldfish. Obviously, it is a very crazy life!

Adrian is not a professional organizer, but is a “Recovering Messie” and is sharing a lifetime’s worth of lessons she has learned with her Clutterbugs series (every Monday) and her new Women and Finance feature (every Thursday).

I dislike dusting and I don’t know why. I used to wait till my mother was coming to visit to do it. Then I discovered it makes a wonderful punishment task when kids argue. Go ahead and argue girls, the entertainment center is looking a bit dusty. ;)

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Hi it’s me… Sandy

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I'm a Professional Organizer, Mom and Step Mom to eight, and a Senior Content Manager for Collective Bias.

Writer, Amy Trauntvein

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